BEAMISH Initial Environmental Evaluation BAS Environment9/30/2016 Office September 2016 1 Contents Non-Technical Summary ..................................................................................................................... 4 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7 1.1. Background to Project ......................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Statutory Requirements ...................................................................................................... 7 1.3. Purpose and Scope of Document ........................................................................................ 8 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................ 9 2.1. Project Overview ................................................................................................................. 9 2.2. Project Schedule ............................................................................................................... 10 2.3. Description of the Project ................................................................................................. 13 2.3.1. Hot water drilling, Ice and Sediment Cores .................................................................. 13 2.3.2. Bore hole Instruments .................................................................................................. 17 2.3.2.1. Transient deployments ............................................................................................. 17 2.3.2.2. Permanent deployments .......................................................................................... 18 2.3.3. Long Term Installations (Up to 3 years) ........................................................................ 20 2.3.3.1. Passive seismic monitoring stations ......................................................................... 20 2.3.3.2. GPS stations .............................................................................................................. 21 2.3.3.3. Radar stations ........................................................................................................... 21 2.3.4. Temporary installations (Up to 3 months) .................................................................... 21 2.3.5. Seismic Surveys ............................................................................................................. 22 2.3.6. Radar Surveys ................................................................................................................ 22 2.4. Description of Support Activities ...................................................................................... 24 2.4.1. Tractor Traverse ............................................................................................................ 24 2.4.2. Fuel Depot ..................................................................................................................... 25 2.4.3. Field Camps ................................................................................................................... 26 2.4.4. Overwinter Depot ......................................................................................................... 26 2.4.5. Removal of Science Equipment and Traverse Vehicles ................................................ 26 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT ...................................................................................... 27 3.1. Rutford Ice Stream ................................................................................................................ 27 3.2. Subglacial lakes ..................................................................................................................... 27 3.3. Nunataks ............................................................................................................................... 27 3.4. Protected Areas .................................................................................................................... 27 4. ALTERNATIVES ........................................................................................................................... 28 4.1. Do nothing............................................................................................................................. 28 4.2. Do the activity elsewhere ..................................................................................................... 28 4.3. Do the activity with alternative science ................................................................................ 29 2 4.4. Do the activity with alternative logistics ............................................................................... 29 5. IMPACT IDENTIFICATION & MITIGATION MEASURES ............................................................... 30 5.1. Hot Water Drilling ................................................................................................................. 30 5.2. Sediment Coring .................................................................................................................... 31 5.3. Deployment of Camera ......................................................................................................... 31 5.4. Deployment of Ice Column Instruments ............................................................................... 31 5.5. Radar, GPS and Seismic Monitoring Station deployment – Ice Stream ................................ 32 5.6. Temporary GPS Deployment – Ice stream, Ice Sheet and Nunatak ..................................... 32 5.7. Temporary Seismic Monitoring Stations ............................................................................... 33 5.8. Radar and Seismic Surveys .................................................................................................... 33 5.9. Tractor Traverse & Field Camps ............................................................................................ 34 5.10. Fuel transfer and storage depots ...................................................................................... 35 5.11. Ship, aircraft and tractor train operations ........................................................................ 36 5.12. Import of Cargo ................................................................................................................. 37 5.13. Cumulative Impacts .......................................................................................................... 37 6. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................... 43 7. REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 44 8. AUTHORS OF THE IEE ................................................................................................................ 45 3 Non-Technical Summary Introduction The project “Basal conditions on Rutford Ice Stream: Bed Access, Monitoring and Ice Sheet History” (BEAMISH) aims to improve the understanding of the uncertainty in predicting future sea level rise associated with the melting of the Antarctic and the Greenland ice sheets. Through measurements taken at the ice surface and by drilling to the bed of Rutford Ice Stream, the project will set out to establish how long ago the ice sheet last disappeared completely, and how water and soft sediments underneath it help the ice move fast on its journey to eventually melting in the sea. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is leading the BEAMISH project, with collaborations from a number of UK and overseas organizations. These include the Universities of Swansea, UCL, Bristol and Aberystwyth and The Pennsylvania State University. This Initial Environmental Evaluation has been prepared in accordance with Annex I of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (1991). Project Description The project involves using a variety of sampling techniques in order to collect data and samples from the surface of Rutford Ice Stream, from within it and from the sediment beneath it. It is proposed that ice and sediment cores will be taken from four sites on the glacier using a hot water drill. Seismic and radar surveys will be undertaken across the whole of the study area. GPS receivers and seismic monitoring stations will be deployed temporarily on the ice stream for several months each season. The purpose of these activities is to study the flow of the Rutford Ice Stream and to map the topography and variations in basal water and sediment in the area around the drill holes. The GPS receivers will track the motion of the ice surface whilst a seismometer will detect the noise bursts emitted as the ice stream grinds over the underlying bed. The seismic surveys will enable maps to be produced identifying variations in the bed sediment. The radar surveys will map the bed topography and reflect where water beneath the glacier is concentrated or distributed. Two additional GPS stations, on Fletcher Promontory and in the Ellsworth Mountains, will act as stationary control-points, used to improve the accuracy of the GPS results acquired on the moving ice stream. In the initial season a tractor traverse will support the project by transporting fuel across the Ronne Ice Shelf and creating a depot on the Rutford Ice Stream.